News

Clubber denies raping man at railway station

First published
in News
by Joe Nimmo, Senior reporter. Call me on (01865) 425373

A “VULNERABLE’’ man with learning difficulties was raped at Oxford Railway Station by a drunk clubber, a jury heard yesterday.

Daniel Allen, of Fleetham Gardens, Reading, has gone on trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with carrying out the offences in the early hours of February 10 last year.

The 20-year-old denies two counts of rape and two counts of causing someone to engage in sexual activity without their consent.

Ahmed Hossain, prosecuting, said the complainant had escaped from a care home and was wandering the streets of Oxford when the two ran into each other at the train station after Allen had been at the nearby Plush Lounge.

He said the alleged victim had the mental age of “a very young child’’.

Mr Hossain said: “It is the prosecution’s case that because of the level of difficulties suffered by [the complainant], he simply did not have the mental capacity to consent.

“And that would have been immediately apparent to Daniel Allen.

"Daniel Allen, though he was in drink, preyed on what was a vulnerable, mentally disadvantaged, lost young man.’’ The trial continues.